Gold Coast White shine in Under 16 challenge

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The South East Queensland Division’s pre-season Under 16s challenge series got under way last Saturday, with Round 1 hosted at Nerang on the Gold Coast; with all three of the Brisbane teams failing to record a win from their three games in a surprise result.

Brisbane Red did manage to share the match points with Ipswich after the teams fought out a draw to kick-off the series.

They scored a try apiece in the first half, with the junior Diggers leading 6-4 at the break.

Both sides added another try in the second half, but a Brisbane conversion levelled the scores at 10-10, which was the final score line.

Gold Coast White shone in a polished first up performance, racing in four tries during the half to lead comfortably 24-0 at the break.

Brisbane Blue staged a mini-revival early in the second term to narrow the gap to 24-10, but Gold Coast studied three more tries for an easy 40-10 victory.

The final game between Gold Coast Yellow and Brisbane Grey started at a frantic pace, although mistakes did creep in as the humid conditions progressed.

Brisbane crossed for two tries in the first half to lead 10-6 at the break, but the second term was dominated by defence as the game flowed from end-to-end.

In an exciting climax, Gold Coast crossed late for a converted try and the Vikings managed to hang on for a thrilling 12-10 win.